Christian Atsu advised by Chelsea teammates to join Everton

Winger Christian Atsu has revealed that his team-mates at Chelsea advised him to join Everton - advice that Atsu followed this summer.

He's quoted by the Everton website, saying: “After the World Cup, when I came back to Chelsea they told me of Everton’s interest. I told them Everton were a great Club and I would prefer to play for them.

“I think Everton is a great Club with a great manager and they try to play football, which is very important for me.

“When I was training with Chelsea a lot of the players told me Everton is a great Club."

The 22-year-old will be hoping to have similar success at Goodison Park under Roberto Martinez like Gareth Barry, Gerard Deulofeu and Romelu Lukaku had last season.

Two of the three ended up becoming permanent signings for the club but Deulofeu ended up returning to Barcelona.

There seems to be little doubt that Atsu will benefit from his time at Everton this season, as Martinez has shown he is prepared to give players a chance to impress in the first team - and there are likely to be plenty of opportunities given the Toffees involvement in the Europa League this season.

Ian Bolland

A journalism graduate of Liverpool John Moores University. During his time at university, Ian spent time on work experience at local newspapers in Liverpool, Bolton and Wigan, and prior to that he did work for The Observer's 'fans verdict'. Ian also has interests in news, current affairs and business but mostly sport, including football, rugby league, cricket, golf and Formula 1, amongst others.